The Youth Assembly was not the first time that I visited the United Nations, but it was the first time that I felt truly united with a group of young people like me who, together, radiated the kind of dynamic energy that will change the world.

The importance of young people engaging with the MDGs, SDGs, and the international development community more broadly stems from the fact that these initiatives will impact our generation and the world that future generations will inherit.

For me, it's a world where no one goes hungry and everyone has the means to provide for themselves and their families. It's a world where we can be confident the environment will be clean and healthy for future generations.

A noble exhortation to be sure, one that, it is safe to say, absolutely no one can argue with. But unfortunately the report falls short of making a valuable contribution to the wider discussion around the new development agenda, particularly when it comes to navigating the difficult road ahead.

November marks seven months after the abduction of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria. Despite the widely received global #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign, the girls remain under the control of the extremist group.

Globally, one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence at some point in her life. The World Health Organization has declared violence against women to be a global health problem of epidemic proportions.

The second target of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed upon in 2000 by world leaders and set to expire next year, is to "ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling." So, how far are we now?

It is time for the international community to roll up its sleeves and get to the business of deciding the world's new development agenda, known as the Post-2015 Agenda, the successor to the Millennium Development Goals which expire at the end of next year.

Damascus was a beautiful city full of generous people who seemed charmed by my attempts at Arabic and eager to show me their city and country. Then came the Iraq war. I had to leave in March 2003 and I never made it back.

When the leading cause of death among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 is pregnancy and childbirth; when two-thirds of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa are among adolescent girls; and when 200 million women want to use family planning methods but lack access, the young girls and women of the world do not have a promiscuity problem -- they have a human rights problem.

As the governments of the world convene this week to discuss them, they need to look at the evidence. But they also need to listen to the voices of the millions of girls and women around the world for whom access to contraception and safe abortion is integral to their survival, to their health and to their well-being.

There is no time for complacency when 800 women and girls continue to die each day of pregnancy and childbirth complications, and more than 220 million women who want to plan their births continue to lack modern contraception.

Calcium, protein, vitamin B-12 and iron are essential to human health. Animal-based foods are an important source of these micronutrients, and where we at Heifer work, they're sometimes the only source readily available.

I got the chance to be in an inspiring place where you can actually breathe knowledge and engagement for social-economic and human causes, namely poverty eradication and food access ( or accessibility) to all.